


Snuggles & Solace

by Galaxy Margarine (spacebutterfangirlcollective)



Category: NormalBoots
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, M/M, PB&Jeff, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-14 07:38:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19268728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacebutterfangirlcollective/pseuds/Galaxy%20Margarine
Summary: After a recent public fallout involving a friend, Jeff heads to Austin's place to record together and take comfort in each other's company. The story takes place in a universe where Austin and Danny are both polyamorous and Austin and Jeff have not gone public with their relationship.





	Snuggles & Solace

The May sky of Seattle still wore the washed-out denim blue of a chilly spring, and Jeff rubbed at the goose bumps on his arms as he walked the familiar stone path to Austin’s front door. After three years of recording together, he didn’t usually feel this tense when heading over— especially not for the last few months when they both had finally decided to be honest about their feelings. But today, unfortunately, was different. Because today was the first time recording since the Jared situation. The thought of it alone resulted in a heaviness in Jeff’s stomach— like he’d somehow swallowed a boulder that he was going to have to carry inside him forever. And after Heidi’s responses had gone viral, it had made everything about his arrangement with Austin and Danny... well, complicated. He knew they were probably gonna have to talk about it. He also knew they were both gonna have a hard time thinking about anything else. But as much as he was dreading that conversation, he also knew the only person who would be able to make him feel better was Austin and that putting it off would do no good, and so with clammy hands, he rang the doorbell.

When Jeff heard the shuffle of Austin’s feet as he made his way over to answer the front door, he felt the knot in his stomach loosen for the first time in days. He straightened up and gave one last floof to his hair. The door swung open, revealing Austin who was leaning against the frame, his lips pulled up in a lopsided grin. The smile on his boyfriend’s face made his heart quiver, but he was a little surprised to see him looking so upbeat given the circumstances.

“Ah, what the heck, Jeff.” Austin complained, adjusting his beanie over his long hair self-consciously “You’re gonna make me look bad.” Jeff cocked an eyebrow at him inquisitively

“I’m just wearing the same type a thing I always wear, dude” he said with a laugh.

“Well.. yeah I guess. But like, you _always_ look good,” Austin countered. He reached for Jeff’s hand and pulled him through the doorway, placing a quick peck on his cheek, “like give me a break already.”

“Nah, man, I have to give you a hard time.” Jeff replied with a slightly mischievous glint in his eyes, “Besides, you look good too.” Austin made an exaggeratedly bashful facial expression and waved his hand as if shooing away the compliment.

“D’aww, you’re just saying that.”

“Am not!” Jeff insisted, “I mean it, Austin.” In response to his own name, Austin’s eyes fixed on Jeff’s, his gaze suddenly softening. His hand, which had been holding Jeff’s, slid up his arm to rest on his shoulder instead, tugging him nearer. He watched as Austin stooped down slightly, and Jeff rolled his weight onto his toes to help close the distance between their lips. He let his own eyelids flutter shut in anticipation, and--

“Are you two done flirting?” That was Todd’s voice, calling from down the stairs.

“We can start the game without you…” called a second voice, which could only belong to Jack. Jeff’s eyes snapped open again in surprise and he startled backwards, not realizing anyone besides Danny would have been in the house with them.

“Are we filming something with face-cams today?” he asked, hoping that his words would draw attention away from the slight pink in his cheeks. Austin’s smirk told him he had no such luck though.

“Actually, I thought-- maybe, I mean-- if you were down for it, we could record some Mario Party with Todd and Jack to try and… ya know, cause we lost all those episodes with...” Austin’s voice trailed off and Jeff thought he detected a little lingering hurt, but he quickly bounced back, “just figured we could all use a, like... a distraction.”

“That’s a great idea, dude!” Jeff enthused, regaining his composure quickly. He really had no reason to be self-conscious, it wasn’t like Todd and Jack didn’t already know. In fact they’d been the second people the two of them had discussed their relationship with, only after Danny. Well-- “discussed” wasn’t exactly the right word. More precisely, Austin had forgotten to edit out one of their mid-recording kissing sessions before sending files over to Todd and Jack. Needless to say, the two editors had received a surprise when listening to that PB & Jeff episode’s audio. He was pretty sure that he and Austin would _never_ hear the end of it. They really hadn’t told much of anyone since though, and dating in secret meant that even small gestures of affection between them felt electric--especially if anyone else was around. Just as he thought this, Austin reached for Jeff’s hand.

“C’mon dude,” Austin urged “let’s play some games!”  

Still holding Jeff’s hand, he lead him up the stairs to where the office / recording room was, and he could hear the unmistakable chipper tune of Mario Party music coming from within. They rounded the corner at the top of the stairs and found Todd and Jack already flopped on the dark, plush couch he’d spent 100’s of hours recording gameplay with Austin on. Immediately Jeff noted how both pairs of their eyes seemed to make pointed note of Austin’s hand still intertwined with his.

“Hey there buddy!” Todd greeted him

“Ah, Jeff you’re here!” Jack called with a wave.

“Wassup guys?” Jeff replied, waving back with his free hand.

“Just been waiting on you two so we can get this party started” Jack responded, gesturing to the tv.

“Yeah, you love birds gonna sit down and play or just keep standing there?” Todd asked, sliding over to make room for the two of them. Austin plopped down on the cushions, Jeff beside him.

“This is gonna be so good!” Austin enthused, then turning to Jeff with a proud smile, added “It was _my_ idea, ya know.”

“Yeah I guess the doofer can come up with a good idea every now and then,” Todd teased good-naturedly, earning a half-hearted glare from Austin.

“I just hope I’ll finally break the freakin’ DK curse...” Jeff grumbled. He felt Austin squeeze his hand softly.

“You’ve got this, Joof.” Austin told him, “except I’ll totally screw you if I gotta cause I’m not gonna lose.” There was a slight pause as they all processed his wording.

“CRAP, I meant screw you over!!” Austin corrected quickly, over Todd’s poorly suppressed snickers and Jack covering his face in mock scandal and disbelief “I wasn’t trying to— I meant like— oh shut up, you guys know I’m bad at talking even though that’s my whole job!” Austin cried defensively. Something about the pink in his cheeks made the dark, pine nettle color of his eyes even more brilliant, and Jeff caught himself thinking that it really was not fair that he was that adorable when he was flustered.

“It’s okay, buddy” Jeff said, coming to his rescue “we know you just meant that you won’t go easy on me. And like, you don’t have to either, cause I’m a pro gamer grill, obviously” Austin gave him an appreciative smile.

“Alright, alright everyone got it out of their system?” Jack asked, pulling up the Elgato software. Todd let out one last cackle

“Okay I’m good now,” he promised “let’s do this.”

 

* * * * *

 

The chaos of Mario Party turned out to be exactly the right way to take their minds off everything. By the time they had finished, Jeff’s throat was slightly scratchy from all the yelling but he felt better than he had in days.

“Dude, I still can’t _believe_ that triple one you rolled!” Austin exclaimed, “like—what even are the chances of it, that was so hype.”

“Yeah, see I told you!” Jeff shouted, “You guys kept trying to tell me it’s all in my head but like, it’s _real,”_ Todd chuckled and stood from where he had been making some adjustments to the recording files.

“Alright that should do it, files should be good to go so Jack and I can head off.”

“See ya, man,” Austin called “thanks for coming!”

“It was fun! Just, with the rest of the day if you two could hit stop on the recording this time before you start making o—,”

“Okay we’re going now,” Jack cut him off, dragging a still protesting Todd along with him “See you guys soon”. The door shut behind them and suddenly the room was much quieter. Jeff could hear the muffled barking of Azura and Luka from downstairs, probably directed at Todd and Jack as they made their way outside to their car.

“So,” Jeff asked “what’s next?” He turned to face his boyfriend and found Austin had been watching him closely.

“I dunno.” Austin answered, “Kinda wanna take it easy after all the yelling.”

“Ohhh yeah, you down for some more animal crossing then?” suggested Jeff, but Austin pursed his lips in thought

“Actually I— I kinda thought we could maybe just... cuddle for a little while, if—If that was, ya know, it you wanted.”

“Oh!” Jeff smiled “yeah of course dude.” In the past, they had tried on and off to cuddle during recording sessions that didn’t use a face-cam, but the nature of remaining in so close a proximity for an extended period of time meant they would often get distracted from whatever game they were playing and generally had to limit it.

“So like, you want me to spoon you?” Jeff offered, but to his surprise, Austin shook his head. He stretched out lengthwise on the couch with his torso still propped up at the end, and took Jeff’s hand, gently tugging him into the space beside him. Austin’s frame was narrow enough that there was room on the couch for him to lay snugly in between the cushions and his boyfriend’s body. Immediately, Austin moved his arms to encircle Jeff’s upper half and guide his head to lay on his chest. Jeff allowed himself to relax into the position and felt his eyes flutter shut in contentment as Austin ran his fingers through his hair.

“Mm, this’s nice” Jeff breathed. The window beside the tv was open, allowing a gentle but insistent breeze to have passage into the room. In the last few hours with the four of them mashing buttons and shouting curses at the game, it had kept the room a comfortable temperature, but now that things had settled, the recording room felt drafty. The leaves by the sill shivered tremulously and Jeff did too, nuzzling closer to Austin’s side. He felt a slight tug at the hem of his shirt, and Austin’s hand moved to trail lightly up and down his back. Normally such a touch between them would carry more desire and hunger, but this one was different. It was feather light—delicate, and asking nothing of him. Occasionally Austin’s long nails would faintly scrape his skin as they continued their path up and down his back, and the sensation made his whole body feel like it had turned into warm honey. Jeff tipped his face back slightly to try and read Austin’s expression.

“You alright, dude?” he queried.

“Yeah!” Austin answered immediately, “Well— aside from, you know all the stuff with— like... yeah. But I’ve been better today. Also you did it again.”

“Did what?”

“Dude.” Austin answered with a laugh

“Crap.” Jeff said, giggling with the realization, “I can’t stop saying it!”

“S’my fault,” Austin said, “cause my commentary and stuff is so— like I’m so good that everyone just wants to talk more like me, obviously that’s what’s going on.”

“Okay, okay sure,” Jeff jokingly appeased him, “Yeah it’s definitely that and not that we spend like— tons of time with each other and that you’re rubbing off on me.”

“Yeah, obviously not that.” Austin agreed, causing both of them to giggle. Abruptly, Austin leaned down and placed a gentle but lingering kiss on Jeff’s forehead. Jeff’s eyes met his inquisitively once again.

“So like— what’s the reason then?” he asked.

“Huh?”

“What like— I mean you said you’re doing okay so like— I mean not that I’m mad about it, I like it, but we don’t usually, I don’t know, we don’t usually do this... that much,” Jeff tried to explain. Austin’s eyebrows furrowed

“Yeesh, do you think I’m such a bad boyfriend that you’re confused about why I’d cuddle you?” He teased.

“No way!” Jeff exclaimed quickly “I just thought like— what brought it on, you know?”

“Do I gotta have a specific reason to wanna cuddle my boyfriend?”

“No.... I guess you don’t,” Jeff admitted with a laugh.

“Yeah, so there!” Austin declared triumphantly, “take that, _dude._ ” And he kissed the top of Jeff’s head for emphasis, launching him into another bought of giggles in the process. Jeff brought his face up, still smiling wide, his laughter only silenced when at last Austin pressed his lips to his. The kiss was tender and slow, their mouths both remaining closed as they moved their lips softly against one another’s, each of them savoring every subtle shift in the contact between them. Austin’s lips bore the faintest trace of citrus flavored chapstick, and it made Jeff’s own tingle wonderfully. He exhaled dreamily through his nose, bringing one hand up to rest on his boyfriend’s neck, while Austin caressed his cheek with a cloud-tip touch.  When they finally broke apart, they kept their faces close—their eyelashes like butterfly wings against each other’s skin each time they blinked.

“Hey,” Austin murmured “I’m really... I’m glad... we have, this. And us.”

“Me too.” Jeff told him softly.

“I guess I just— I don’t know the Jared thing happened and it kinda screwed me up. I mean it kinda... it screwed all of us up. But at least like— I’m not— I mean I’m not the only one. And it’s.. like, it’s a little easier cause... cause I’ve got you. And I guess I just… don’t want anything about us to… because--I don’t know. It’s stupid and--,” Jeff cut off Austin’s rambling there.

“Hey. You’ve _always_ got me.” He promised, “This doesn’t-- I mean it definitely sucks, but this shit with Jared doesn’t change that.” Sensing Austin’s continued unease, Jeff kissed him once more, with a quiet insistence, and didn’t allow their lips to part until he felt the tension in Austin’s body melt away again. As he pulled back though, a sly smile spread across his face and he added: “Also you’re totally full of it.”

“Wh—what?!” Austin sputtered, taken aback by the sudden tone shift, “Whadda you mean by that?!”

“I _knew_ there was something going on!” exclaimed Jeff smugly. “You were all ‘ohhh can’t I just cuddle my boyfriend’ but I knew it!”

“Shuddup,” Austin whined “okay so maybe there sorta was this time I guess but now I’m gonna like— I’m just gonna do this with you a lot, to like— to prove my point!” Jeff giggled again, in that airy, high, bell-tone that only Austin could elicit from him.

“Yeah, sure, okay okay.” Jeff teased, and then seeing Austin’s pout added, “I mean I’m not complaining.” Gruffly, Austin pulled Jeff back against his chest, laying his head in the crook of his neck.

“You better not be,” Austin grumbled, “cause I still wanna— like.. I’m not done cuddling you.”

“Oh nice,” said Jeff, nuzzling closer, “Cause I wasn’t done being cuddled.” And together the two laid like that for much of the remainder of the day.


End file.
